REVIEW: The Rascals' Felix Cavaliere finds right balance with Christmas show at Penn's Peak

REVIEW: The Rascals' Felix Cavaliere finds right balance with Christmas show at Penn's Peak

The biggest hurdle to a contemporary music act making a Christmas show work is balance.

Too much Christmas, particularly if it’s not done well, and the audience wonders why they came. Too little Christmas and they wonder why it’s a holiday show at all.

Felix Cavaliere, singer and songwriter for the 1960s band The Rascals, found the right balance Sunday with his Felix Cavaliere’s Rascals Christmas at Penn’s Peak near Jim Thorpe.

His hour-and-45-minute show of 23 songs included six of The Rascals biggest hits, a dozen Christmas songs – some with the Lehighton Area High School Choir—and even a few covers.

The biggest reason the show was successful was that all of the songs – holiday tunes, hits and new songs -- were performed with attention and dedication, as if every song mattered. And Cavaliere and his three-man band plus back-up singer Michelle Prentice had the chops to make them sound that way.

Lehighton Area High School choir

Lehighton Area High School choir

The show started with The Rascals “Been Lonely Too Long” – Cavaliere, at 72, able to precisely recreate his vocals – then a medley of covers including Wilson Pickett’s “In the Midnight Hour” and Sly and The Family Stone’s “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf)” that got the small crowd of perhaps 300 participating early.

“I always wanted to sing in front of a choir,” Cavaliere said, and he did—bringing out the Lehighton school’s 26-member group. They sang Faith Hill’s “Where Are You Christmas,” a stylized “Jingle Bells” and “Silent Night,” and Cavaliere joined them for “The First Noel,” backed by sparse keyboard and guitar and adding a nice doo-wop ending.

Felix Cavaliere sings with Lehighton Area High School choir at Penn's Peak near Jim Thorpe

Felix Cavaliere sings with Lehighton Area High School choir at Penn's Peak near Jim Thorpe

It was those types of touches that kept the show interesting as well as entertaining.

Cavaliere let band members sing, as well – drummer Vinny Santoro did a very nice (and also stark) “Little Drummer Boy” and Prentice a very good “O Holy Night,” both with the choir. Prentice also sang Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” and The Rascals hit “How Can I Be Sure,” originally voiced by the group’s Eddie Brigati.

Cavaliere also did well with the holiday songs – his voice especially good on a gently rocking “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” and “The Bells of St. Mary’s” version from Bob B. Sox and The Blue Jeans on the Phil Spector Christmas album.

It helped the show that Cavaliere has a new Christmas album that includes originals – and several were surprisingly good. (Cavaliere conceded writing a new Christmas song is “a little dangerous.”)

“Christmas is Coming Soon” was adult soft-rock, with a ‘60s soul sound. “Christmas in New Orleans” was more rocking, and “Christmas in Your Arms” was of the romantic holiday school.

It probably also helped that, despite how big The Rascals were (the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997) and how influential its music was, the group only had a half-dozen real hits.

But when it came to those Rascals hits Sunday, nearly all were impeccable.

“A Beautiful Morning” was pristine and showed how well The Rascals music has aged. “Groovin’” was similarly good, and included samples of “Apple, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie,” and The Temptations’ “My Girl” and “Just My Imagination.”

“See, I knew I’d get you to sing,” Cavaliere told the crowd – and, indeed, they did.

And “People Got to Be Free” was stretched to nine minutes with samples of the spiritual “Oh Happy Day” and Pharrel’s “Happy” (get it?) along with band introductions.

After “Feliz Navidad,” Cavaliere closed with the expected: a five-minute version of The Rascals’ biggest hit, “Good Lovin’,” which he called “another Christmas present.”

Surprisingly, it was the most loose of the night’s songs, but the crowd didn’t seem to mind – singing a verse loudly on its own.